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About How Babies Talk

In their first three years of life, babies face the most complex learning endeavor they will ever undertake as human beings: They learn to talk. Now, as researchers make new forays into the mystery of the development of the human brain, Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek, both developmental psychologists and language experts, offer parents a powerfully insightful guidebook to how infants—even while in the womb—begin to learn language. Along the way, the authors provide parents with the latest scientific findings, developmental milestones, and important advice on how to create the most effective learning environments for their children. This book takes readers on a fascinating, vitally important exploration of the dance between nature and nurture, and explains how parents can help their children learn more successfully.

About How Babies Talk

In their first three years of life, babies face the most complex learning endeavor they will ever undertake as human beings: They learn to talk. Now, as researchers make new forays into the mystery of the development of the human brain, Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek, both developmental psychologists and language experts, offer parents a powerfully insightful guidebook to how infants—even while in the womb—begin to learn language. Along the way, the authors provide parents with the latest scientific findings, developmental milestones, and important advice on how to create the most effective learning environments for their children. This book takes readers on a fascinating, vitally important exploration of the dance between nature and nurture, and explains how parents can help their children learn more successfully.

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Praise

“This is a great book. It’s an important addition to any parent’s library.”—T. Berry Brazelton

“An in-depth study of language development during the first three years of life… The text is interspersed with activities readers can use to assess the specific development of their own children… useful and interesting to anyone involved with young children.”—Library Journal

“Crisp, clear, concise, often humorous. The contents are unusually substantive for a handbook targeted to parents, as the bibliography of scientific citations confirms. Important scientific results and their applications to daily life are highlighted as lessons under the heading ‘Scientific Sleuthing Pays Off’ and modified for use at home as ‘Try This’ exercises. A key resource for parenting collections.”—Booklist

Table Of Contents

Introduction. Setting the Stage: The Magic of Language Development in the First Three Years of Life

Birthing the Baby: Will the Newborn Resemble the Fetus?Try this: Does the newborn react to sounds?Communicating Through CryingMother, Is That You? Newborns Prefer to Hear Mother’s VoiceDistinguishing the World’s LanguagesTry This: Does your baby respond to foreign languages?Face-to-Face: Love at First Look?Try This: Charting baby’s smilesDo Mouths and Voices Work Together?Newborn CopycatsTry This: Can my baby copy me?The Roots of ConversationBaby Talk MattersTry This: Do babies react to baby talk?More Than Meets the Eye

Chapter 2. Yada-Yada-Yada: The Babbling Period Between Four and Eight Months of Age

Babies Do BabbleHow Babies Talk to UsTry This: Conversations from the Crib?From Coos and Goos to BabblingTry This: Are “Mama” and “Dada” real words or just arbitrary sounds?Why Babies Babble

How We Babble to BabiesWidening the Topics of ConversationTry This: Finding objects near and far

Finding the Words (and Other Units) in a Stream of SpeechWhat’s a Word Worth?Use Your Head! The Headturn Preference ProcedureTry This: Will baby notice disrupted speech?Learn Your Handle: Lauren, Not LouiseTry This: Does baby respond to her own name?Once Upon a Time: Babies Recognize Words in StoriesHow Do You Mean? Babies Grapple with Word Meanings

Chapter 3. Point-ilism: Parents Become Tools for Babies between Nine and Twelve Months of Age

Learning to Communicate without WordsFinding the Causal Connection: My Signals Can Make Things Happen!Try This: Can my baby communicate with intention?How Do Babies Learn to Make Their Point?Try This: When can baby follow a point?The Negotiation of Failed Messages: You Just Don’t Get It!Try This: How does my baby negotiate?

Let the Words Begin!Preverbal Communication: The Cradle of MeaningDetecting the Patterns in the Language StreamThe Decline in Distinguishing Among the Sounds of the World’s LanguagesWhither the Words?Try This: Playing games

Chapter 4. First Words: Getting “Hi” between Twelve and Eighteen Months of Age

What Does It Take to Learn a Word?The Flowering of VocabularyThe Stars and Stripes and Other SymbolsTry This: Comics in the crib?The Fertile Path to Real WordsTry This: Creating a diary of protowords and first wordsCommunicating EfficientlyTry This: Tracking the use of baby’s first ten words“Home Signs” and “Baby Signs”Try This: Can my baby learn some baby signs?

Symbols, Categories, Meanings, and Emotions“Dog,” Not “Dalmatian”; “Hat,” Not “Baseball Cap”: Why Babies Prefer Some Words over OthersTry This: What kinds of words are my baby’s first ten words?How Do Meanings and Words Come Together?Saying Your First Words: A Sobering TaskTry This: Does my baby express emotion when she talks?

First Words Take Effort, More for Some Than OthersA Tale of Two ToddlersName Callers and Social SophisticatesTry This: Is my baby a name caller or a socialite? What kind of parent am I?Word Comprehension Exceeds Word Production

Scientific Sleuthing Pays OffLesson 1. More baby talk=More baby’s talkLesson 2. There are big individual differences in the appearance of the first wordsLesson 3. Picture book reading is a source of new wordsLesson 4. When do you worry about a lack of words?

Chapter 5. Vocabulary Takes Wing: Eighteen to Twenty-Four Months

The Vocabulary SpurtFinding the Vocabulary SpurtTry This: Catching the torrent of words in a diaryWord Leaning Is a Bear (Bare?)What Are Toddlers Talking About?Try This: Book reading as a classroom for word learningBabies Overextend Themselves: Misapplying Words for All the Right ReasonsTry This: Looking for overextensionsDoes Sensitivity to Social Cues Lead to the Vocabulary Spurt?Try This: Is your child using social cues to learn new words?Do Mental Advances Lead to the Vocabulary Spurt?Try This: Categorizing obejcts and the vocabulary spurtFast Mapping: Novel Names Go with Novel CategoriesTry This: Fast mapping and the vocabulary spurtAn Integrated View of the Vocabulary Spurt: It Takes Social and Mental Advances

What Toddlers Can SayTwo-Word Sentences Say It AllTry This: Two-word sentences take off! But what do they mean?What Enables the Baby to Use Two-word Speech?

What Toddlers Can UnderstandInvestigating Two-Word Productions: What Children ComprehendTry This: What are the cues my baby relies on to understand sentences?What Does It Mean to Understand Sentences?Babies find the units in the language streamBabies realize that words in sentences describe events in the worldTry This: Can my baby understand that language maps to unique events?Different arrangements of the units in sentences change sentence meaningTry This: Does my baby understand that differences in word order signal differences in meaning?Beyond Word Order: Children Attend to Grammatical ElementsTry This: Is my baby sensitive to grammatical elements?“With” – A Grammatical Element in ActionComprehension Far Outpaces Production, But Why?

The Source of Grammatical Capability in the Human SpeciesWhere Does the Grammar Come From?A Language Instinct?The Critical Period: Time Is Running Out

Scientific Sleuthing Pays OffLesson 1. When should you worry?Lesson 2. What should be do or not do to promote language growth?Lesson 3. It’s never too early to start learning a second language

Chapter 8. “Please” and “Thank You”: Using Language to Get Things Done Between Twenty-four and Thirty-six Months

Mastering the Uses of LanguageLearning a Language Is Learning a CultureWhat Are You Really Asking? How Toddlers Understand RequestsTry This: How do I ask questions? Does my child make conventional inferences?How To Ask: Getting What We WantTry This: Can my child consciously use polite speech?Learning Social RoutinesConversations with Two-Year-OldsTry This: Can my child observe conversational rules?Beyond Conversation: Telling the Stories of Our Lives Through NarrativesTry This: Does my child tell coherent narratives?Using Language for Fun: Jokes and PretenseTry This: Does my toddler make jokes?